10-2.1614 Public utility facilities.
- (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to ensure that new public utility facilities and additions to existing facilities are compatible with surrounding properties and consistent with the public health, safety, and welfare of the City. While these regulations recognize the authority of applicable state agencies, it is the intent of the City to exercise any and all authority that it may have now or in the future under the California Constitution or general law with regard to the construction of any improvements or the making of any other changes to any public utility facility in the City. Inasmuch as it cannot be predicted with reasonable certainty at this time which such improvements, facilities or changes may be proposed to be made in the future, the source of the authority of the applicable state agency thereover and, consequently, the authority of the City thereover, it is necessary to write this section in general terms and allow its application to vary with the facts and the law governing each case.
- (b) Criteria. Application for a Conditional Use Permit for a public utility facility, as required by the provisions of subsection (c), shall be subject to the following development criteria in addition to all other applicable land use and development standards in this chapter:
- (1) The site for the proposed construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration, or placement shall be of adequate size and shape to accommodate the proposed use, yards, courts, walls, fences, and landscaping buffers, parking, and other required features.
- (2) Adequate street access shall be provided to carry the quantity and kind of traffic generated by the proposed use and designed to provide adequate ingress and egress for fire-fighting equipment or other safety equipment.
- (3) The proposed use shall have no adverse effect upon any abutting property, the neighborhood, or the City, and the proposed use shall protect the public health, safety, convenience, interest, and general welfare. In order to insure this provision and to comply with the purposes and intent of this chapter and the General Plan, any development standards or conditions may be imposed to create orderly and proper uses, as determined by the Planning Commission/Harbor Commission or City Council. Whenever a referenced municipal code section uses the term Planning Commission or Harbor Commission, it shall mean for the purposes of this Section 10-2.1614 the Planning Commission unless the subject property is within the Harbor-Pier area as defined in subsection (a) of Section 10-2.2512, in which case it shall mean the Harbor Commission.
- (4) The applicant may be required, as a condition of approval, to dedicate land for street or park purposes where indicated on the General Plan and to restrict areas perpetually as open space for common use by appropriate covenants.
- (5) A time limit for development may be imposed as provided in subsection (j) of Section 10-2.2506 (Conditional Use Permits).
- (c) Conditional Use Permit required. Subject to the following provisions, a public utility facility shall be a conditionally permitted use in any zone. The City Engineer may require that an application for such Conditional Use Permit be referred to the Public Works Commission for review, report and recommendation prior to action thereon by the Planning Commission or Harbor Commission, as the case may be.
- (1) A Conditional Use Permit shall be required for the construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration or placement of any improvement or the making of any other physical change in or to any public utility facility; provided, however, that where such improvement, facility or change is to be made pursuant to any order of the Public Utilities Commission, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the Regional Water Quality Control Board or other state or regional agency having jurisdiction to make and enforce such order, the Planning Commission/Harbor Commission, or the City Council on appeal shall not make any decision or impose any condition in conflict with any such order or any condition thereof unless, in the opinion of the City Attorney, the City is not preempted therefrom under Article 11, Section 7 of the California Constitution by the enactment of general laws or the subject of such order is a municipal affair under Article 11, Section 5 of said Constitution.
- (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (c)(1) of this section, a Conditional Use Permit shall not be required for the following activities:
- a. Repair or maintenance of any public utility facility.
- b. Construction, erection or alteration of any building, or adjacent parking facilities therefor, used solely for the purpose of a business office to serve a public utility. (Note: Planning Commission Review of such exempt public utility facilities, however, may be required by other provisions of this Code.)
- c. Any construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration, or placement of any telephone or electric power line or gas or water pipeline located in any public or private right-of-way or across any private property installed pursuant to a utility service agreement.
- d. Any work of improvement on such a facility which has a value, as determined by the City's Building Official, for building permit purposes of Fifty Thousand and no/100ths ($50,000) Dollars or less and which, as found and determined by the Chief of Planning, will not have an appreciable adverse effect on the occupants of surrounding properties or on the general public and which is not inconsistent with the City's General Plan.
- e. Any construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration or placement of any meters or measuring devices adjacent to customer residences or other facilities.
- f. Any construction, reconstruction, erection, alteration or placement of any safety devices, such as pipeline pressure regulators or voltage regulators.
- g. Emergency activities, such as, but not limited to, repair of downed power lines, broken gas or water lines or repair of existing equipment within an established distribution system which must be undertaken in order to avoid an immediate threat to human health or property.
(Ord. 2756 c.s., eff. January 18, 1996, as amended by Ord. 2786, eff. January 2, 1997)
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